Process of making paper-pulp.



Jr., of Hartsville, ton and State of UNITED sTnTEs PATENT; OFFICE;

JAMES L. ooKER, JR., OFIHARTSVVILLE, SOUTH CA OLINA.

' PROCESS oF MAKING, PAPER-PULP- To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES LmnCoKER,

in the county of Darling- South Carolina, have invented a new and usefulImprovement-in the Process of Making Paper-Pulp, of-which the followingis a specification. I

.The object of my invention is to'utilize for paper-pulp-making purposesthe ordinary timber large Un te States, the rineipal varieties of whichare known as ong-leaft ine, (Pimts the bark on to the action 0 locanatural .pared sap-wood none of the objectionable pclustria) short-leafnote) loblolly-pine, Cuban pine, (Pinus wood of these ,Southern me, wasechtinus ta; da,) and heterophyllm') The pines is ve rich in resinousmatter and substantially a l of this matter must be removed from thewood before a good article of wood-pulp can be produced therefrom. Attemts, more or less successful, have. been madbto remove this resinousmatter from the wood; but so far as I am informed all processes hithertoemployed to obtain this result have depended upon'the use of chemicalsand have involved Suchfexpense as. to be practically prohibitive inactual conimerci manufacture. It is my oliject to effect this resultsimply, cheaply, andwithout the use of result I attain b a processinvolving the steps of killing t e tree, sub'ectin it with agencies,whereby the resinous matter therein,'1s changed, modified, or broughtto-such condition aslto be innocuous in pulp making,

removing the bark and cutting up and split- .ting the stripped timberinto suitable lengths to arrest further deterioration of fiber, and

then after removing the heart-wood from, the sap-wood subjecting thethuss repared sa -wood to an ordinary or suitable W0O(l,

hese are the steps which I- n p rocess. ave ollowed in practice with theresult that in making paper-pulp from the thus premanifestationsattendant upon the presence of resinous matter in wood is noticeable,and the nip itself is of a qualit that can only be 0 tained in thepractical y complete ab sence of resinous matter. My invention is basedupon the discovery, which I believe to be new with me, that if thekilled pine tree be allowed to remain with the bark on exposed to theelements or to the action of natural agencies foraconpineswhlch arefound in/very' g antitles 1n the southern part of the.

that as I have found if the chemicals, and this in value by incipientdecay bot Patented S ept.11,'1906.

siderable constituents of the tree will by that time be changed andbrought into such condition as period of time, say from four to-- twelvemonths or even longer, the resinous.

to be practically innocuous for paper-pulpmaking pu oses. The length oftime of exposurewil vary with the season and with the character ofthe.particular tree; The best time to kill the tree (whether by girdeling or-by felling) is in the'early summer der these conditionsthe'change in the resinous constituents proceeds more rapidly than atother times, although the samechange will eventuall but more slowly takeplace if the tree be illed at any other time of the year. The bark isallowed to remain on during. the process of chan e for the reason ark beremoved from the green wood the direct exposure of the latter to the airseems tothardenthe resinous matter in the outer ortion of the trunk, sothat in quite a this circumferential layer of the wood the resin remainspracticallyunchanged, thus destroying the value of this portion of thewood for pulp making and retarding the change in the inner ortion of thetrunk.

e exact nature of the chemical change which takes place in the resinousconstitucultto determine when that change, whatever it may be, has takenplace. A slm le when the sap is circulating freely, since un.

ents of the wood is as yet undetermined and is still underinvestigation; but it is not difli test is to make an incision in thetreew1th an ax, If the tree is in proper condition and the change hastaken place, the liquid which follows the blow will be" Eimpid,nonviscous, and as fluid as water,

than resinous. As soon as'tliia stage has been reached furtherdecomposition or the trunk and cut up the latter into convenitself bythis time has materially ient lengths and'spht these lengths so as to.

expose t e interior. The heart-wood which occupies the interiorof thetree still holds its almost taste less, andwith an odor which is :etheryrather ,ehange should be stopped, becausethe wood resinous constituentsin hardened condition.

and practically unchan ed, audit therefore must beise arated an removed'fromthe sap-wood w ch-forms the exterior portion of the tree and inWhichthe change in resin.- ous constituents has been effected.

The sap-Wood after its separationfrorn'the heart-Wood is ready forimmediate use as a pulp-producing material or it may be stored forfuture use.

Having described my invention and th best Way now known to me ofcarrying the same into effect, Whatl claim herein as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1. The improvement in the art of making pulp from the Wood of theSouthern pine, which consists in killing the tree, subjecting it, withits bark still on, to the action of natural agencies, whereby itsresinous constituents are modified or changed or brought to suchcondition as to be innocuous inpulp making, then, when tests show thetree has been brought to this condition, removing the bark and cutting,up and splitting the stripped trunk into suitable lengths, sepa-Witnesses:

rating and removing the core or heart-wood 2. In the art of making ulpfrom the 'WOO(l of the Southern pine, t e preliminary treatment of theWood for this urpose, which consists in subjecting the kil ed tree, Withthe bark on, to the action of natural agencies until the trunk willyield a liquid.

having specified, and then stripping the bark from the trunk and cuttingup the stripped trunk.

into suitable subdivisions, substantially as substantially thecharacteristics and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature I in presence of twoWitnesses.

JAMES L. (JOKER, JR.

WV. L E H-ELMs, PAUL E. JOHNSON.

